2 Gestalt players

[daTim]

We are rather short handed in our gaming area and have only two players left. I am considering having them play gestalt characters through an adventure for characters of 14th-17th level. I figured I'd start them as 14th lvl Gestalt with 150% of recomended treasure.

I kind of figure one gestalt character is not equal to 2 pc's, as they are still limited by actions per round; but just how different is the power level? They will survive great against traps and small combats, but in big combats they will suffer the most I think.

 

[Thanee]

No experience with Gestalt (and unlikely to ever get any), but my guess would be, that they are about 50% more effective.

Leadership is also an option to increase the party size.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mulkhoran]

You've hit it right on. Big multiple-opponent combats can be killer.

I play in a couple of campaigns with Gestalt characters, and have to say from my experience, they're *really* powerful if properly built.

The actions per round thing is a limitation, true, but depending on what they choose, especially for PrCs, they can push almost to 200% normal character capacity in some situations.

Personally, I think it's a blast

One suggestion: When building gestalt, remember to keep one side as a single class that goes all the way up (like, all 14th level something in this case). Otherwise, if you mix a bunch of different classes (7/7/7/7), you suffer severely in the base attack and save bonuses. But I guess you knew that. Just my $.02.

Enjoy!

 

[sparxmith]

RttoEE and Gestalt Characters

In the campaign that I play in, our group just attacked and killed a 14th level Cleric, 2 10th lvl Fighters, and 7 orcs who all had character classes added. Avg level of our Party? 7th.

How'd we do it? We're all gestalt and we had, at least on that day, a fine tactical plan that was executed to perfection.

Seriously, gestalt characters can kick some serious butt--when used properly. Make sure that the PC's choose classes that synergize well. For instance, a cleric/wizard sounds like it be uber, but it's not unless the character has superhuman stats. You get two full spell progressions, but the other abilities don't really flow to make a tremendous character.

However, a Sorceror/Bard or Sorceror/Paladin is a fantastic combination. The high charisma is perfect for the Sorc, and tremendously boosts the strength of either second class.

A Wiz/Rog tends to work really well. You can sneak attack with a ray, adding damage to certain spells. The high Int gives the already skilled rogue even more points to work with. Plus the higher hit die goes well with the lack of armor.

But, I've saved the best for last: a Druid/Monk, especially if you give him the Vow of Poverty from the Book of Exalted Deeds. Druids and Monks both receive a crapload of class abilites. By 14th level, the character would be able to Wildshape into a large fire elemental (which buffs his stats) then attack unarmed with extra damage for being Large, all the while using Call Lightning to pummel his foe with 3d6 electricity every round. It's a deadly combination.


So, to end the minor hijacking, a gestalt character's power, relative to a regular character's power, is highly dependent on the skill of the player creating him. In the above campaign, we had someone play a barbarian/fighter. That character is the weakest of the group--adding feats to a barbarian doesn't make it on par with the rest of the group. So, as stated above, make sure that the characters are designed well. I believe that that will help you solve your problem.

Just my two sparx,

Sparxmith

 

[wraith8]

Gestalt characters need to be built correctly, but when they are they're f'in invincible. For example, i built a combo of a 13th level dwarf gestalt right? He starts rogue fighter, and dips one into exotic weapon master for flurry of strikes (I'm using a dwarven urgrosh), and taken 4 levels of stonelord for earth power and earth shadows, and i can do around 280-320 damage on a full attack.

 

[wraith8]

Gestalt characters need to be built correctly, but when they are they're f'in invincible. For example, i built a combo of a 13th level dwarf gestalt right? He starts rogue fighter, and dips one into exotic weapon master for flurry of strikes (I'm using a dwarven urgrosh), and taken 4 levels of stonelord for earth power and earth shadows, and i can do around 280-320 damage on a full attack.

The trick to making challenges harder is to A. Give monsters full hp. B. give harder monsters including big ones important to the campaign double hp including con. This will mean he'll actually be hard. Also, have your main bad guy be gestalt as well!

 

[Darklone]

By 14th level, the character would be able to Wildshape into a large fire elemental (which buffs his stats) then attack unarmed with extra damage for being Large, all the while using Call Lightning to pummel his foe with 3d6 electricity every round. It's a deadly combination.

Sorry? Using Call Lightning is a standard action each round... so no attacks?

 

[daTim]

Thanks for the great input so far. Good suggestion in beefing up monsters and having less. The module is Castle Maure btw.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I play in a campaign where we use gestalt characters, but that is offset by the fact that we won't get much in the way of magic items, so I can't say how they do when they get items as recommended in the core rules. Also, we just hit 3rd level (and the only magic items we found so far are a couple of scrolls and potions, and the only real treasure we got is a piece of real estate in the form of an old wizard's tower)